Articles and tips about Ireland? You can find them under this tag!
Recently I visited a city in the north of Ireland, Derry, and I noticed that there are still a lot of confusion between the “Irelands”. The confusion has some reason to be, after all there are three Irelands. And with that, people get quite confused between the three. Yes, three! Not one, not two, but three!
But how?
It is time for more Red Bull Cliff Diving! This year’s series already had a few jumps, and again this year one of the amazing stops was the Islet of Vila Franca, next to São Miguel Island, in Azores. And without realizing, I almost saw another jump but this time in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they’ll jump from the historical bridge. Unfortunately I was there two weeks before the jumps.
The Wild Atlantic Way is an Atlantic route through the coast of Ireland, also the longest coastal touristic route in the world. The reason why it’s called “Wild” is because this rote wasn’t planned to be touristic, nor was changed in any way for that. It is literally a real and unchanged experience through the coast of Ireland. Since I bought my car, I already visit most of the south part of Ireland through this route, most of West Cork, Beara peninsula, the Ring of Kerry, Dingle peninsula and part of the route to Galway, and Connemara area. I visited quite a lot already, and I can only say this route is amazing!
The route is clearly signed, the majority of plates have the Wild Atlantic Way symbol point North or South of the route, and I highlight the fact that is North or South of the route and not the geographic directions, at some point it gets a bit confusing for those following the geographic coordinates as a reference 🙂 The route starts (or ends) in the beautiful town of Kinsale, near Cork, and ends (or starts) in Derry, the border with Northern Ireland, in Donegal county. In some parts of the route you also have alternative sections and detouring to capes or other highlights outside the main route. The first detour is the Old Head of Kinsale. The Republic of Ireland’s government made a huge investment to replace the signposts, but the responsibility for the roads maintenance is still for the local and regional entities.
Since I found out about the Wild Atlantic Way, I always try to learn something more about this amazing route, and Ireland can be really proud about the tourism information one can find about this route. A simple internet query by “Wild Atlantic Way”, and you can find a lot of information, it gets really easy to plan a trip and know exactly where to stay. The official page has a companion app, for Android and iOS (I’ll also review the iOS app one day), and this app not only shows the route in detail, but also gives recommendations about “hidden gems”, where to eat and stay, activities, itineraries for sections of the route so you can do it in several days in an organized way, or for those that just want to do the route by sections (like myself).
So basically, this route is the ideal option for someone who loves road trips and is coming to visit Ireland. If you have time and you want to avoid the traditional tourism, through this route you’ll get to see some of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in Ireland, as some of the major highlights like the Cliffs of Moher. And obviously, here they/we drive in the “wrong” side of the road 🙂
If you’ve done this route, or part of it, what did you like the most? Please leave a comment with your experience.
Unfortunately the blog has been quite inactive, against what I planned last year, but surely I can’t postpone this post! Every year I write the previous’ year review and a few goals for the following year, I’ve been doing this for a few years and here I am again!
A heads up, I foresee that I failed a lot this year, regarding last year’s goals. A lot happened worth mentioning, but also a lot wasn’t done either…, but let’s see.
So, here we go!
Writing and speaking English is not an issue for me, but I want to take this travel writer thing really serious, and for that I decided to attend for some Advanced English classes which I’ll pay a bit for… but I see it as an investment.
Well, I did this indeed and I didn’t get much out of that. It is the second time I go for the wrong course, I want to improve my writing and the course I attended didn’t give me much of what I was looking for. Well, I won’t add that for 2015 goals either, as a few things will change.
I plan to visit another continent, I postponed Africa so or I’ll go to North America or Oceania, I might pick North America first…
Well, this one was a fail… This year, technically, I left the Euroasian plate when I went to Madeira island, but that’s part of Portugal. So, not sure if I could count that as going to a new continent…, maybe I did 😀
Due to this, I’ll change slightly my original plan, in 2015 I want to visit at least three new countries!
By the end of 2014 I plan to be away from Ireland or being preparing my move. I learned to like this country, though I feel that I need another life changing event soon.
This one was also a fail, but for a good reason. My personal life changed a lot, so I postponed this for later. I won’t say for when, but it is something that eventually I’ll do.
Still about Ireland, I am going to buy a car soon which I intend to use almost every weekend to discover new places in Ireland and share with you all my experiences!
Well, I did this and in fairness not because I had this goal, I actually forgot about it. I bought the car just because my personal life changed and this was a big plus!
I drove a lot, but I haven’t visit that much as expected either, but surely the car helped to get to visit a few places that were unknown to me 🙂
As for the blog, I want to post at least once a week and avoid long posts (like this one).
And fail…, I started quite well, but the lack of visits to the blog, and comments, affected my motivation. Recently I found out that Google isn’t targeting my blog to the right audience (my fault, I’ll change a few about that). Hopefully 2015 will be better 🙂
Bring it on 2014, I challenge you to become better than 2013, like 2013 did with 2012 😀
Well, it wasn’t better than 2013, but it was a really damn good year! I am happy to write and acknowledge that the last three years of my life were amazing! A few less good things, but in overall I can consider myself as a lucky person!
Regarding travel journal, I wrote 14 posts for the Japan Series, about the trip I did the year before. Two posts about the Romania Series (I still have a lot to do about this one), one post about Stockholm and one post about Eastbourne.
I also wrote two app reviews and a Tips and Tricks post about planning versus preparing for a trip.
As I mentioned before, I also noticed that the stats decreased significantly. In the last weeks I have tried to figure out what’s the reason behind that, and when this happened. I think I finally figured out what’s going on, but I’m not so sure yet how to fix it.
For a few years I follow Chris Guillebeau‘s blog, and honestly I think I got inspired to write these reviews after reading one of his earliest ones. I love traveling, and Chris is like the travel guru for me, I have learned a lot from his posts so I looked at it from a different perspective this time. What do I like there and why I keep following him after he finished his quest to visit all the countries in the world. Shame on me, I realized that for the last years I only looked at his posts and I saw the letters he strategically placed to form words, I never read it.
I spend a few hours re-reading one of his manifestos (279 Days To Overnight Success), and that kind of hit me in the face. My stats dropped because I changed this blog for me and not for my followers, I used to write in Portuguese (my native language) when my target audience were Portuguese native speakers. I wanted to improve my English (which I did, a lot) so I totally disrespected my followers and I disregarded my geo-stats.
I don’t seek Chris’ success, but it would be great to become meaningful and inspire other people like he does to me. My stats tell me that my followers are from Portugal and Brazil, therefore in 2015 I’ll write for them, in Portuguese, and occasionally in English (or maybe duo-lingual posts).
Three things, it should be enough 🙂
For 2015 I also have a stretching goal, this one will be tough but hopefully I’ll do at least half of it! Ireland has an amazing tourism trail of 2500km, the Wild Atlantic Way. I plan to do this by bike in several different stages, maybe one weekend a month which would be about 200km a weekend… Yep, that’s just a stretching goal 🙂
And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you 🙂
The weekend of November 23rd/24th I spent in Killarney, I’ve passed through the town a few times but never actually stayed a whole day there. I did it finally, the town is the start/end of the Ring of Kerry Route and it should be properly appreciated.
From Cork you can go either by train or bus, the train is pricy comparing with the bus and in my opinion doesn’t worth much the trouble. It won’t save you much more time, and the price is twice as much. By bus you can use the buseireann company or any of the few travel agencies that do the Ring of Kerry tour, though if you want to stay overnight isn’t the best idea. By car it is really easy, just follow the N22 and you’ll get there in about 2 hours and half, maybe three.
Killarney is a very touristic place in Ireland, the city center is full with stores, bookshops, restaurants and pubs (like almost everywhere in Ireland). You can spend a full day just wandering around, we were lucky with the weather, this weekend was really sunny perfect to enjoy the streets and some of the cafés with esplanade.
Really close to the town there are the Lakes of Killarney, you can go there by taxi about 6€, but you’ll want to enjoy it and go around, be prepared for a hiking day or go by car. The lakes are stunning, a must visit place in Kerry.
At night, like it is normal in Ireland, Killarney also has a good variety of pubs, life and traditional music are easy to find, mostly during touristic seasons.
One weekend in one place is never enough to make proper recommendations, but there are some places that stand out, and for me in Killarney the Pay As You Please is a must visit place, for lunch dinner or even just a coffee. The outside area is really inviting just by itself, we spent the whole afternoon and even had lunch there, on a sunny day the esplanade is going to be sunny the whole afternoon. The food was really good, and the staff deserved 5 stars for their sympathy. I’ll come back for sure!
Last year I wrote the 2010 review and 2011 goals, which turned out to be surprisingly good therefore I’ll do again this year and see what happens.
Some highlights about 2010:
I’ll keep this goal, to go abroad, but now with a slight difference I won’t make such a big deal of it.
Considering that I am now working in Ireland, I can tell this goal was successfully achieved! The best part is that I really didn’t make a big deal out of it, it happened almost by chance. I tried unsuccessfully several times to get a job abroad and at some point it was more important just to change my job, when I gave up with the “abroad” idea this chance appeared and I didn’t let it go, again 🙂
Another thing that I want to change is my blog’s name, but for that I need that something changes in my life, something worthy.
Look Left looks like a name’s change 🙂 And I guess I can say that something really changed in my life! 🙂
I need to do something meaningful with my life such as volunteering and helping those that really need it!
Not yet…, but I was part of the Movember Team, I believe that’s a start 🙂 And I just realized that I never wrote about that…, shame on me! I should do that ASAP!
My goal for this year is getting a way of self-sustain and invest sometime to learn something that I can earn money working at home and anywhere, this doesn’t mean that I will quite my job but that I want to get a Plan B.
I totally failed with this one…, postponing it to 2012!
I will keep writing in English
Mission accomplished! This one was easy, and I believe I improved my English quite a lot 🙂
My feeling about 2011, before I (re)read the 2010 review and 2011 goals’ post, was that half of my year was again a total disaster…, but now I think that the whole year was a huge success! Every single step I did was in the same direction, even if I didn’t realize it by then, quoting Steve Jobs:
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
And I am already feeling like it!
A more deep review about 2011, despite the pre-set goals, 2011 was really another big year like all my latest years. In January I started actively searching for a new job, and because of that I gave up of some opportunities I had, it took me several months to get it maybe because of the crisis, maybe because of my lack of experience, maybe because of my CV. I don’t really know. Normally this kind of things leads to frustration, and at some point I lowered my goals and I decided to”just move”.
May was the month that everything changed, and I say quite often that if someone told me in May that I would go to Peru in less than a year I would think that person was crazy or just trying to upset me…, and now I am preparing a trip to Peru in less than two months!
10th June, Portugal’s day and the day I left Portugal again! New country, still in Europe. The fourth country I lived in in less than 5 years! I am still amazed by how much my life changed, and eager to keep doing it! I’m only sorry for not starting this life earlier, because I am really loving being me just right now!
I miss my nephews’ birthdays, but as a present I brought them to Ireland, their first flight trip! Well, both are too young and they might forget about it soon…, but I was with them for at least a few days and that’s the more important thing.
In October one of the most important person of my life passed away, after almost three months it’s still hard for me to accept it…, but life’s goes on.
I am back in Portugal now, for Xmas and NYE, returning to Ireland today! Again, looking back I can say the year was a blast again! Some very bad things, some really good, but in general the good ones were the majority.
About 2012, I still want to learn or do something that pay me the bills, or at least let me travel and pay for my travel addictions. It’s easy to say “freelancing”, but harder to do it. I love my current job, and now that I have more free time I should invest it in other ways rather than pubs 🙂
About the volunteering, I won’t do it in 2012 for sure, probably small projects or campaigns like the Movember one. Volunteering is still a life goal, but I am sure that I won’t be able to do it properly in 2012, I want to take 4 or 5 months off for that and since I just got a new job that I really like, I’ll postpone it a while. Probably I’ll do it in 2013, who knows?
Learning Spanish! I don’t know why I never did this before in a very serious way! I know some Portuñol, I have the advantage that the Portuguese grammar and vocabulary are really quite similar with the Spanish one, and with a good level of Spanish I’ll have almost half of the world as an easy “target” to conquer!
Travel! That’s not a goal, it’s rather a lifestyle 🙂 Until now I only have one big trip planned, to Peru, but I am looking forward for bigger days in Ireland because I want to explore deeper that country. I don’t believe I’ll do another big trip in 2012, maybe to Greece with my parents (if I manage to convince them…), but nothing more than that. But well…, already thinking about 2013 😀 Planing travels is really addictive 😀
Sports, I need to do more sports…, I started with the gym a few months ago, but I’d rather do more outdoors. After March I might apply to kayak lessons, and keep doing hiking. I’ll try to organize one or two hiking trips, Ireland is quite nice for that.
And I think that’s enough for goals, few but possible to achieve! Everything else is bonus 🙂
And another place in Ireland 🙂 This country has really amazing landscapes, and today we went to one of the candidates for the 7 Wonders of Nature, the Cliffs of Moher!
This is starting to be scary, once again my huge luck is surprising me and those around me…, we planed to go to the Cliffs of Moher during last week, a great sunny week (for irish standards)…, however everything has to end and also the good weather. Today we started our trip around 9am, a rainy day was ahead and as everything in Ireland we shouldn’t postpone this trip because the weather will always be unpredictable. Ok, let’s go! Cliffs of Moher!
Rain, rain, rain all the way…, and I was all the way barging about my huge luck and that we would have a great sunny day at the Cliffs… But before the cliffs, we had to make a stop for gas and food (fast breakfast) were we met an American guy hitch hiking also to the Cliffs. He asked us for a ride, but we were already 3 and a dog…, so we said no. But on the car we decided “let’s help the guy”…, we has already gone 🙁 Pity….
Back to the road…, rain, rain and more rain…, oh wait…, some sunshine… now some real sun and just cloudy…, oh there’s the cliffs and a blue sky!! Yep, it happened again!
The cliffs are great, but to be honest nothing that surprising. Just some cliffs, quite high though, but nothing too impressive. In my humble opinion there are way more impressive things in Ireland, but I still think it’s worth the trip!
The path is quite easy to do, always close to the scarps but nothing too challenging. We had a situation with some cows and Kaja (the dog that was with us), which forced us to run a little bit close to the edge (that was funny :P) and tens of photos! We didn’t go until the end, after a while we decided to go back and go for some food, after all we didn’t have any lunch and it was already almost 4pm. And when we decided to go back…, who did we find in the cliffs?? The american guy that asked for a ride!
Apparently today someone died (or disappeared) in the cliffs, Steve (the American guy) told us that they were looking for a guy that decided to do part of the trail alone…, the typical situation that you tell your friends “I am just behind you” and that everything goes wrong… Hopefully everything is ok with the guy, we had no more news about that.
Back to the car, which we paid 18 euros for parking… tip for those driving there: Do NOT go to the park with a car full of people, every each of them will pay 6 euros while nobody is checking for the tickets at the cliffs entrance!
Well, we gave a ride to the american guy to a town which I don’t remember the name, but before that we stop for “lunch/dinner”. While there, he asked us if he could go with us all the way to Cork! Well, no trouble at all! And the guy has an amazing life-story, it is always great to meet new people even better when they are such unique!
The way back wasn’t that exciting, some stops for photo shooting to the sunset, and nothing more than that, just that Steve might be now camping at the University College Cork’s campus 🙂 Good luck with that!
This Sunday I went to another town nearby Cork, a place mostly know by its restaurants and gourmet food, also by its history and the Flight of the Earls. As usually, I should had read about the town before going there, but sometimes the surprise its kinda of nice.
I went with my flatmate there for a photo-shooting trip, I heard about the food, I knew that’s a town by the sea so it only could be a nice place for some photos, and it is! My surprise was reading everywhere spanish names, restaurants, streets, etc. Not knowing anything about Kinsale, it was like a surprise and feeling that something really important happened there, my curiosity made me google for it and learn somethings about the Spanish and Irish history.
The town is definitely a place to return, next time for dinner at a good restaurant and to visit the town itself, this time we tried to find the Charles Fort and we spent some precious time doing it, but it worth it!
We were 5 minutes late, the doors for the last visitors closed minutes before we arrived at the fort but we managed to shoot some photos from outside, which is really great as well! I don’t believe we missed that much from inside, but I still want to visit it someday soon. Something that I truly recommend is walking from the town to the Fort through the coastal path, part of that path is just for pedestrians and it is really nice.
However, now I am a little bit sick due the strong wind we got there…, I heard that the hurricane passed through Ireland (way weaker) during this weekend, which explains the strong wind on both days…, and thanks to that, I am now like a snail…, though, I am already planning my next trips 🙂
Oh gosh, I don’t know how I have strengths to write this today…, but I have to! Today makes exactly one month since I arrived in Cork, so what’s the best way to celebrate it? Check bellow!
My closest friends, and now some colleges of mine, are aware of one of my precious gifts…, I have the ability to make myself invited to almost everything 😀 Not always I am well succeeded…, but I still keep trying 😀 Well, today was more or less the same, I heard some colleges of mine planning a hiking trip and I asked if I could join them, immediately they said yes and that was the start for the amazing day I just had 😀
I knew nothing about the hiking, I asked nothing about it! I just knew I should buy some hiking boots…, and I did it! If it was one month ago, I would stay at home…, thankfully now I can spoil a little bit myself and I did it, I bought one of those boots that just saved my day today! Several times!
I woke up at 7am, everything already packet and some food on the fridge just waiting to be picked and packed, I prepared some scrambled eggs and ate it along with a tomato…, usually I just drink milk at breakfast but I thought I should eat something more…, heavy? And I started my trip the other 11 fellows! About one hour until the bottom of the “hill”, yes, I thought it was hill walking…, and I knew I was nearby Killarney, which I have never heard before so it was the same for me…, I was nearby “X”.
We started the climbing…, holy mother of gosh! The first stage was so steep!! But in a kind of concrete, which wasn’t that bad…, or not…, the way back we wish we had no concrete at all! But well, let’s proceed! The view is just amazing, I was all the time magnified with the view, in respect of irish culture and sightseeing, I am totally a virgin so maybe that’s why I was, so repeatedly, saying “wow”! I became kind of boring after a while, but I don’t care! It was really WOW!
After the first stage, we arrived nearby a lake, and then the mud bath! We had to pass through a bog, that was the first time I thanked for every single cent I paid for my boots…, I totally bury my leg until the knee and it didn’t get wet! The same I can’t say about my pants…, I was wearing jeans (what a smart move for a hiking day) that after that moment became the “shitty” jeans…, not that wet though, but kinda of full of mud…
The the first hill, it was totally ok, no problem at all just a little bit steep but nothing like the warm up stage. From the top of that hill I saw what I thought it was our goal…, and I said “I can’t do that!! It is fucking high!!!” I am so naïve…, that was just the first of three peaks!! Also the hardest, but well…, it was REALLY HARD!!!
The first peak I think it took almost a quarter of our time to get there, we arrived there around 1pm if I can recall exactly and then we had lunch there. Carrying around 5l of water didn’t help as well…, it was a really hard first peak! A lot of sheep and photos in between and climbing climbing climbing…, funny thing is that we took the hardest path and we only realized that when we were coming back and we saw the proper trail…, from the top we had a better view from what we should expect by then 😛
The second peak…, well, first we had to go down from the first peak, but through the other side…, we didn’t climb peaks just for fun, that was really the trail to get to the top of the third peak. 🙂 Something I forgot to mention, we had 3 dogs with us, two big ladies and a tiny man 😛 They were part of our fun, and they are really energetic! Oh gosh…, sometimes I wished I were a dog…
As I was trying to tell, the second peak, not that hard as the first one, but quite “sharp”. Both sides of the hill really steep and we had to ensure we did it safely, I think that is what makes that peak harder, not the path itself but the safety of it.
Then the third and last peak…, it was the easiest that one, quite bigger and only our tiredness made it harder because the trail isn’t hard at all. On the top, I finally found out where I was…, Carrauntoohil, nothing just the highest peak in Ireland! What a great way to celebrate my first month in Ireland! And then…, talking about Ireland…, rainy weather…, that wasn’t pleasant at all and made the way back more challenging! The rain wasn’t harsh, but the foggy yes…, that kinda of freaked me out, the first (not the last) peak was really challenging and now slippery…, yes, I was really afraid of what I could expect now.
The way back was really easier than I thought, of course we already knew the path, even foggy we could see the next 10m so it was enough not to get lost nor last-minute surprises, as I said before, the way down of the first peak was easier because we did it through the proper trail, still hard for our tired bodies, but easier. The mud bath was changed, from the top we saw another path around the mud which we tried. Kinda of watery, but better than mud and no surprises at all. We did it around the lake, which was great because the dogs could swim and getting clean 😀 After that, the last break where we ate the last food 😀 The only part left was the warm up steep trail of concrete…, it really didn’t help because it’s hard to break while going down and the ground was really harsh which also didn’t help to the more than tired legs…
I was so happy when I felt straight land again! Happy, wasted and with an almost smile on my face 😀 Not a big smile because nor my facial muscles I could move after that long day…, 7 hours and a half hiking! Oh, I love my new and already dirty boots 😀
Another Sunday, another sunny surprise! What an amazing day, I wasn’t imagining to have such a great day and enjoying it so much!
Again, the problem was lack of preparation…, I definitely should start preparing my trips in advance, and when I say in advance I mean preparing my trips.
I could compare Blarney Castle to the Portuguese Quinta da Regaleira, a playground for grownups 😀 But Blarney’s gardens are bigger, much bigger! While Quinta da Regaleira you can enjoy it properly during an afternoon…, for Blarney Castle and Gardens you’d need a full whole day…, and because I am lazy and I left home after lunch, I had to run a bit…
Blarney Castle, as the name says, is a castle 😛 Despite the fact that’s the main attraction, the gardens, the forest, the lake and the mansion makes the 10€ ticket to worth every single cent! There you can kiss the iconographic stone, which I did…, that allegedly it gives you “great eloquence or skill at flattery“…, let’s see if it really works 🙂
Walking throughout the forest and by the lake is quite a half a day…, I didn’t have time for everything since I have “L-A-Z-Y” marked on my DNA, but for the part I saw it’s worth the trouble. It is a quite relaxing walk, around 3-4 hours for the forest trails and small wood gardens, the fauna and flora is quite interesting!
Then you have the “other side” of the gardens, the Rock Close, a “not so fairy tale” corner of the gardens where you can see, allegedly, witches and druids settlements. It is funny, though, it seems that is quite old but not impressive as the rest of the castle. As I said before, it is like a playground for grownups and please, don’t miss that part!
The the “private” area…, unfortunately that’s private and I believe it might be amazing as well! The mansion, or Blarney House, where people still live in…, therefore it isn’t public 🙁 yet…
My first stop, quite short though, but it was a nice unexpected sunny day! Who would’ve guess? Not me, definitely!
Talking about the Cobh I visited, not the Cobh I should have read before going there…, it is a very cosy town with very characteristic houses. I can’t upload my photos, for now, due the limitations of the internet providers…, but I think you can trust on me 🙂 It remembered me some fishing villages and towns in Portugal, the area nearby the beach. Houses quite alike to each others, all together just with a different color what makes a rainbow of little houses, a nice place to walk on a sunny day 🙂
As almost everyplace in Ireland, churches…, the main “church”, the Cobh Cathedral is something worth to see, on my opinion it looks better from outside. Inside isn’t nothing that special, at least for me that I am used to the great ornamented churches and cathedrals in central Europe, but still, if you pass by you should get inside anyway!
Another curiosity about Cobh, and this was one of the nice surprises for me (because I didn’t read before going there…), is that Cobh is the homeland of the first emigrant to the USA to pass through the Ellis Island facility, Annie Moore. I knew that a lot of irish people traveled to the USA looking for a better life, but I wouldn’t guess that I’d visit the homeland of the first one passing through Ellis Island. It was nice to know, and I believe they are really proud of that!
And at least, another curiosity about Cobh and the Cork Harbor, Titanic was there! The bay is really huge and they have a landmark saying that that was the port where the passengers used to get to the Titanic, which of course couldn’t dock close to the town. They also have a sign telling that from there you can see the place where Titanic docked, so you only need to let your imagination flow and you might be able to “see” Titanic 🙂
Next stop and next blog post: Blarney Castle!
